Almost all passengers will have experienced a bottleneck at airport passenger gates during some point of their airport journey. It’s frustrating and can mar an otherwise enjoyable experience. Plus, these bottlenecks at also have a knock-on effect in passenger time spent in retail areas. While online check-in and self-service bag drop have helped to speed up passenger’s arrival, it is not always such a smooth experience in other areas, even for a well-travelled airport goer. That’s why many operators are looking for ways to improve passenger screening at airports.
In truth, as passenger numbers rise and place pressure on existing infrastructure, airports face a significant challenge. In January of this year, The IATA published a press release on its website that reveals 2024 was a record year for global air passenger demand, rising 10.4% compared to 2023 (a year in which passenger air travel rose 3.8% above pre-pandemic levels). London’s Heathrow reported record traffic levels of 83.9 million for 2024, Greece’s Athens International Airport saw a record 31.85 million passenger pass through, and USA’s Atlanta International Airport saw record numbers of 108 million, up 3.3% on the previous year, making it the world’s busiest airport.
These record numbers are good business, but only if airports can manage passengers efficiently through airport terminal security.
Effective Passenger Management
Airport passenger flow solutions such as AI-driven PFM (passenger flow management) tools are making the management of passengers easier for airports. These systems are helping airports to gain understanding of where bottlenecks are occurring and to minimise wait time and allocate resources appropriately. While useful for improving understanding of how passengers use the airport and where problems lie, PFM tools are not the solution to a poor passenger experience and need to be combined with airport smart gates at critical points such as passport control and security gates. Speeding up processing and eliminating lengthy manual checks, automated immigration gates, automated passport gates, self-boarding gates and other airport smart gates helps to improve passenger experience and allow airports to better avoid bottlenecks, even at peak times.
Gunnebo airport gates allow airports to work towards a more seamless passenger journey at all stages of airport entrance control. Through pre-security, border control, boarding and lounge access, our technology-driven approach ensures that airports have a range of IATA-compliant identification methods at their disposal:
Pre-security
Gunnebo PreSec gates greatly speed up the initial check of valid boarding passes to allow passengers through to Departures more efficiently. The scanners can read any form of boarding pass quickly and reliably, whether it’s been printed at home, from airport check-in or is stored on the passenger’s smart phone.
Border control and Immigration
ImmSec automated immigration gates feature an accurate reader that speeds up border checks while maintaining absolute security. Depending on legislation, ImmSec high-security airport gates can be integrated with readers for smart ID cards, MRTDs and RFID passports, as well as biometric capture technology.
Lounge access
Lounge Access gate enables automated scanning of all the necessary documents for entrance into airline lounges, such as boarding pass and frequent flyer cards. Gates are connected to the database of the respective airline or lounge operator, providing a seamless service.
Boarding
AFL BoardSec automated boarding gates reduce the burden on airline staff by enabling passengers to validate their own boarding passes with confirmation from the airline host within milliseconds.
Advancements in biometric technology, such as that used in our ImmSec gate, also hold the potential for improved passenger journeys through airports in the future. In fact, with IATA predicting future passenger numbers to double to eight billion by 2040, biometric airport gates could represent one of the few ways for airports to meet demand and maintain operational efficiency. Many airports are already transforming towards a greater use of self-service by biometrics, and it represents a strong focus for near-future information technology investments.
As biometric integration technology develops, airports will be able to make full use of biometrics at all stages of the journey providing passengers with a far smoother end-to-end experience. Through these advanced airport access control systems airports will also increase capacity within existing terminals, ease pressure on infrastructure and staff and help airports to reduce costs.
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